Music You Should Listen to in May...and About My Social Decline, Apparently

Sorry for the lengthy intro. Guess I had to get it off my chest.

I haven’t had a moment to post my March or April playlist because my life has been so chaotic! A family member had a baby (BTW, the sweetest little angel I have come to know), I found out some sad news about someone my boyfriend and I love that rocked us, and, well, idk what else to say without giving too much away (I’m a v private person and so are the people around me). Regardless, none of that holds any weight in your life, so I’ll just get on with talking about the playlist.

Music used to be a marker throughout my day — it’s what I turned on when I was getting ready in the morning, what I would listen to during my commute to school or work, or what I would zone out to when I should have been studying. It was also what I turned to in lieu of therapy — whether I was feeling heartbroken, euphoric, or inspired, I had a playlist or song that could encapsulate my mood. My music-listening-habit has gone down significantly in the more recent past. With post-pandemic life and The Algorithm being an endless trap, there was a time over the past few years when I averaged 13 fucking hours of screen time (AHHHHH!).

I turned into a sloth that went to sleep and woke up only to scroll through social media, work, and order Uber Eats. I completely stopped listening to songs, going out, or enjoying any form of art like I did just a few years prior. I felt like a trapped circus freak, in the cage of my Bushwick apartment, with onlookers seeing what could happen to a 20-something-year-old if she just stopped living.

I isolated myself, but I didn’t feel isolated, per se — I was doing a bunch of work remotely, attending meetings virtually, and was able to keep tabs on my friends a la texts and socials. So, it didn’t really feel like I was alone. Still, from ages 25-ish to 27, I don’t really have too many tangible memories to look back on, concerts that I went to, or trips that were as wild as they used to be when I was younger. It was such a depressing time in my life, and idk how or why I was shocked when I finally had to go on Prozac just to cobble myself back together.

Fast forward to now, I’m doing way better. (TBH, I was so ashamed of my loneliness, I could only ever admit to having lived like this after having overcome it.) Since moving to Red Hook in early 2024, I’m tuning back into the things that made me feel ALIVE — one of them being sharing music with my friends. Of course, I’m not just making/listening to playlists these days, because then I’d be a playlist-listening-circus-freak trapped in her new apartment. But it’s one of the things that made me feel good about myself, so it makes me feel good again to share them with all of you.

I’m changing things up a bit when it comes to this series’ title. As opposed to letting you know yesterdays news about “The Things I Listened To Last Month,” I’m framing this series more around you (<3) and what I think you would enjoy this month. It keeps me grounded (AKA not as self-involved as I sometimes can be) and serves the purpose of these playlists better — to help you get out of your doom-scrolling rut and listen to some music!

Here’s the playlist. I think all the songs are masterpieces, but I really think you’ll like “Touch,” “Rusija,” “Hey, Snow White,” “Pound For Pound,” and “Finding Money.”

Let me know if you like any of these. Or if this glimpse into my story resonates. Love you!!!! xx